Reset
by Juliet Salvatore
Summary: Wish you could watch season 6 right now? Well here is my version which i am writing to survive the hiatus. Begins three years after the tragic events of the finale, keep reading to discover how everyone is coping with the death of Damon and Bonnie. Please R
1. Grief

**AN: Disclaimer, i obviously do not own TVD or any of its characters. Here is my interpretation of season 6 which i am writing to help me survive the hiatus, so please enjoy and R&R**

**Whitmore Campus:** Three whole years had passed since Caroline, or anyone in Mystic Falls for that matter had seen or heard from Stefan Salvatore, so to say she was excited to finally receive a text informing her that he'd be coming back was an understatement. The second her enhanced sense of hearing heard the motorcycle approaching Whitmore Collage, Caroline ran from the dorm and out to greet him.

"Hey, I've missed you!" She said hugging her friend tightly, before he managed to get off his bike. "Hey" he replied.

For the past three year Stefan had been traveling around America on his motorbike, stopping here and there to do this and that. Nothing really came of it of course; he just needed to be alone, away from everybody else trying to adjust to the same grief as he was. The hardest part and had been in Frisco, somebody had asked him if had any siblings and Stefan was forced, for the first time in his life to say 'no'. That was nearly a year and a half ago now; it had gotten a little bit easier since.

"You seem to be doing better," Caroline noted.  
"Yeah, I am I think. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing ok. I mean I still miss Bonnie sometimes but it's been three years, I have to move on, right?"

"Right," Caroline always had an air of inspiration and positivity about her, it was what Stefan liked most about her. He returned her smile, linking their arms together as they began to wonder around campus.

"So, tell me what I've missed."

"Well, Tyler readjusting back to life as a human and Matt and I have been trying to help out. He's taken up boxing or something to try to curb that werewolf rage. Jeremy finally finished high school, he had to repeat a year but he's done now and living with Alaric in his old loft in Mystic Falls while he tries to learn how to be a good vampire, which Elena and I have been trying to help him with. He's getting there…slowly; at least he doesn't want to kill Jeremy anymore."

"And how is Elena going?"

Caroline gave him a look he couldn't quite identify. "Elena got a job at a bar on campus, and I don't think she's been to class in over a year. She's not doing too great."

Stefan sighed, "She lost the love of her life, what did you expect?"

"I expected her to be sad, sure. It's just, she seems to have a taken a very, Damonesque approach to grief."

"I don't understand." Stefan said.

The second they arrived at the bar, Stefan understood. His ex-girlfriend was almost recognisable as he spotted her, Elena Gilbert sitting on the counter in a skimpy black singlet, matching mini skirt with fish net stockings and stiletto heels, but that wasn't the worst of it. Between her legs stood and unrecognisable frat boy and the pair appeared to be locked in a nauseatingly passionate embrace. "Is that her?"

"Yep." Caroline confirmed. "I wish I could tell you it was an unusual sight."

Caroline would never dare say it allowed, but she was almost sick of Elena. Every other night her roommate returned home just before Dawn at the earliest, drunk and frazzled, as she made her way through the boys on campus at an alarming rate. The only saving grace was that Elena seemed to have the decency to not take her entourage home with her.

At that point Elena finally raised her head from the frat boy's. "Who wants more booze!" She shouted into the crowd, raising up a nearly drained bottle Bourbon and chugging while she was met with a wild wooing from her audience.

"How long has been like this?"

"Basically since it happened. She went catatonic for a few weeks and then one day she got out of bed and she was like this."

Elena took in a panorama of the crowded bar, laughter filtering out of her as she did so, before she glimpsed her friends standing cautiously by the door.

"Oh my god, Stefan Salvatore?" she gasped, shoving her 'friend' away from her and jumping off the counter to join Caroline and Stefan. She giggled again "Lost boy finds his way home!" Before Stefan could react Elena had her arms thrown around him and was violently kissing both of his cheeks without hesitation. "And here I thought you were never coming back." She said.

Stefan took a step back to examine the new Elena. Her hair, now falling in ripples down her shoulders, was longer he decided, and she had blonde highlights bleached into it. She wore far more makeup then she used to, and a blue ring with a large upper case D engraved into it was hanging from her neck. Stefan recognised it as his late brother's daylight ring. Elena noticed what he was doing and took a step back as well, modelling her new look. "So? Do you like it?"

"It's…different."

Caroline was watching Stefan's expression with fascination. "Show him you tattoo Elena." She encouraged, Elena was too drunk and giddy to detect the sarcasm in her voice.

"You got a tattoo?" Who was this person? Stefan wondered to himself. Elena twirled and lifted her singlet up a tad to expose the gothic black and blue marking that was now permanently etched into her left hip. Again, she giggled and turned to face them again.

"So, is Stefan planning on telling us his travel stories or are we going to have to force it out of him?" Elena asked with a transparent smirk.

* * *

**Mystic Falls:**

**"**I've been looking through every Grimoire I can find, why haven't I found a way to bring them back?"

Alaric looked up at Jeremy who paced, seething around the small apartment. "I thought you said you would stop searching through those? Let Bonnie and Damon rest in peace."

"No, I promised to give it a rest until I got a high school diploma. I passed school, I'm enrolled at Whitemore from the Fall and now I want to figure out what happened to my girlfriend."

Alaric felt sorry for everything Jeremy had been through, what both the Gilbert children had been through. They had lost their parents, aunt lovers, friends; almost everyone who they loved had been taken from them one way or another. No matter how much he wanted to help them, why could he tell them to ignore the pain and move on with their lives? What did he really know of their loss?

"Jeremy, I think you need to accepting that there may not be anything to be found. The other side imploded, Bonnie and Damon were over there. I'm sorry, I really am but she's gone and there's nothing you can do."

"I don't believe that. This is Mystic Falls Alaric, people don't just stay dead here, you and I are living proof of that."

"Jeremy…"

"NO." And with that Jeremy left the apartment.

* * *

**Whitmore Campus:**

The only moment Elena ever felt truly happy these days were in her dreams. Like right now, as she twirled and swayed in the safety of Damon's arms. She was dressed in a black saffron dress and stilettos, with her hair out and swept elegantly over the one shoulder, just the way Damon liked it. Damon himself looked so incredibly handsome she couldn't bear to look away, dressed in a formal jet black tuxedo complete with bow tie. There was a transcendent white fog, blurring out any surroundings. "Are you controlling these dreams? Are you actually appearing to me, or am I making this entire thing up?"

Damon merely shrugged. "What would like it to be?"

Elena thought for a moment, staring into those deep blue eyes that could make her forget all of her misery. "I want to believe that it's real, that you're actually here." He rewarded her words with her favorite smile, the one he reserved just for her.

**AN: Well did you enjoy or hate it? PLEASE, PLEASE Review and tell me what you think, the story will be continued according to reader request, so if you want to see what happens next PLEASE PLEASE review**


	2. Aftershock

Whitmore Collage: I_nto the early morning the couple continued to twirl and dance, without stopping for a moment. Damon held her so close, just the two of time absorbed in the peace, the stillness, the quiet. His forehead rested on hers, his lips gently connecting with her cheek. Elena never wanted the sweetness of this moment to end, sighing contentedly relishing in the feeling being in her lover's arms just for one last time. She raised her head to look up at him again, seeing his lips curl up into his happy face. He cupped one side of her face in his hand, caressing it, before raising her face up to his to kiss her. "Elena," he murmured softly against her lips…_

"Elena! Get up Elena we have to go." The incessant shrieking of her roommate's voice rudely tore Elena from her fantasy.

"What?" With a groan she turned around to death glare the dear Caroline Forbes. "Why exactly do you want me up?"

"Because class is starting soon, and I refuse to let you spend another day lying around in bed before your shift at the bar."

The shrill arrogance of her voice, the utter senselessness of her words, Elena honestly didn't believe she had ever hated Caroline more than she did in this moment. "I'm not going to class Caroline." She told her through gritted teeth and slumping back down unto her the pillow.

"Elena look…"

"GO AWAY CAROLINE!"

With that Caroline gave up, with a huff and left the dorm room. If Elena wanted to wallow and bitch away in misery, that was her own deal, Caroline officially didn't care. She found Stefan leaning on the wall outside the apartment, looking at her expectantly.

"I give up with her. She's officially yours, I have class." Caroline told him before storming off.

* * *

The twins had taken a while to track down, but after asking around on Campus, Jeremy located the witches dorm room, the door of which now opened expectantly for him, and Liv appeared on the other side. "Jeremy? What do you want?"

"I need you and your brother to help me with something,"

"Why exactly would we want to help you?" Luke's voice came from inside the room. Jeremy managed to force his way into the dorm, taking advantage of the Hunter muscles he had been training up.

"You two know a lot about the other side," Jeremy remembered.

"Right," Liv admitted, "Our mother was fascinated with it. She collected heaps of research and witch stuff on it.

"Exactly, and since the pair of you were responsible for stopping the spell prematurely and abandoning two of our friends over there, I figured you could help bring them back."

* * *

Elena was up and dressed by the time her next visitor arrived. No matter how much she tried, her thoughts kept going back to Damon, rehashing every time it did what he had done to her, the one promise that he had broken and sent her heart shattering as he did so. She needed a distraction, desperately. And as it so happened, the perfect distraction came walking through the door in the form of Stefan Salvatore.

"Hey, Elena. Caroline told me that you…" before Stefan could react, he found himself pinned against the closed door, her hands clasping onto his broad and muscled shoulders, her lips crushed against his. Stefan was too shocked to know how to think, or act. Instinctively he kissed her back, pulling her face even closer to his. Elena relished in the feeling of his firm hand cupping her face, allowing her own to explore the smooth contours of his chest, ripping open one by one, the buttons of his shirt…. "Elena, wait…" he murmured against her lips.

"Shut up." She resumed her onslaught, kissing him almost violently and grasping onto his shoulders.

"Elena, stop." Stefan said. Elena shoved Elena harder against the door in frustration, before pacing away. She had forgotten that he could be a real bore. "This isn't you Elena, you're better than this,"

"Am I?" she kept walking back and forth, trying to alleviate excess energy.

"I get it OK. You're acting out because you're still upset and devastated about what happened to Damon, but..."

"Upset?" Elena stopped in her tracks, staring at Stefan with wide and bewildered eyes. "You think I'm upset? I'm not upset Stefan, I'm fucking angry!"

For a moment there was absolute silence. Elena was breathing heavily, but Stefan couldn't find his breath at all. After a moment Elena's eyes began to glaze over, blurring her image with tears. Eventually Stefan said softly. "I know Elena, I get it."

"No you don't Stefan," From the other end of the room Stefan could barely hear her words, as she just let the air carry them. "I loved him and he left me." Her voice broke; she couldn't control the tears anymore. For a split second she seemed like the old Elena again.

"Elena,"

"Just go Stefan, please. I want to be alone." Stefan obeyed her request, and then she was left all alone..again.

Utterly defeated, Elena collapsed back onto her mattress allowing, for the first time in over two years, the misery to overwhelm her.

* * *

"So, tell me again, why exactly are we helping him? I thought we were through getting involved in their vampire drama." Luke questioned.

For hours, he and Liv had been sorting through every grimore and witch related piece of research they had.

"Because I promised them I would bring everybody back, and I failed." Liv reminded him. "Besides, it's not like they're going to let it go anytime soon." Flipping through even more pages, she selected passages from her mother's research at random. There was stuff about the creation of the other side, the potential implosion of the other side, but nothing about an alternative to the destruction of it.

"They're friends are gone Olivia, there's nothing else to it. That's why we can't find anything."

Liv took a second glance at the passage she had just read, _there is only one supernatural species that would be able to exist on the other side in the case of its destruction…_

"Luke, take a look at this." Luke read of the passage as well, his eyes widening, "Maybe the pair of them made it through." She theorised  
"No. It's not possible, that would defy all the natural laws of probability…"

"We're not dealing with natural law though are we," Quickly she slipped her phone out of her pocket and dialled the number of their inquirer.

"Jeremy? It's Liv, I think we found something."

* * *

Elena had learned the trick to a peaceful night's sleep years ago. It involved a cup of luke warm English breakfast tea and a couple of small white pills. Snuggling back under her doona, she waited for sleep to find her.

Instantly, she saw Damon, sitting shirtless on the white beach, letting the edge of the water lick his toes and his exposed skin be tanned by the hot sun. Smiling, Elena ran over to join him, sitting beside him and entwining their fingers together. "Hey there," he smirked at her, staring her straight in the eye, almost as if he could see right through her.

"Hey back," she said.

He pecked her on the cheek before continuing. "Do you remember this place."

"Of course I do. You, me and the Camaro managed to make our way all the way to this beach in Miami on one of our many summer road trips."

"Yes we did."

There was no needs for words as they recalled their happy memories. The hours wiled away in the car, arguing over the music, passionately singing out the tune of some duet, getting distracted by the feeling of holding each other's hand….

"What's it like over there? Wherever you are? " she wondered curiously. Intellectually Elena knew these dreams were figments of her imagination, but it was simply too tempting to believe that it was really him there, keeping her company through the night, communicating with her in their own little private sphere.

"It's not too bad. I have Bonnie to keep me company and as it turns out, she can be a pretty cool person when she isn't judging me."

Elena laughed. "yeah, Bonnie can be fun. Can you tell her I love her?"

"Of course." she rested her head on his shoulder, and he kissed the top of her head, as if by a force of habit. She looked up at him with those chocolate brown perfect doe eyes.

"I miss you Damon."

"I miss you to baby. More than you can ever know." The sheer sincerity in his voice would be enough to melt any girls' heart. Within moments Elena felt so comfortable she fell asleep against his shoulder.

* * *

The Other Side: Damon slowly opened his eyes again, leaving Elena to sleep calmly for the rest of the night.

"You know you should really stop doing that." He hadn't notice Bonnie sneaking up on him until she spoke up. He looked at her curiously. "Coming to her in dreams," she explained "It only makes it that much harder to her to move on."

Damon sighed, "I know."

"Then why are you doing it."

It was a good question and he thought about it for a moment. He loved Elena, wanted her to move on and be happy again and yet there was something that held him there. They would never be able to be together again, so why was torturing both of them with these visions and fantasy's?

"Because I'm an inherently selfish person Bonnie," he decided, "and I can't bear to see her this upset."

**AN:THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! for all of your lovely reviews they really give me the confidence and inspiration to continue writing. I really hope you enjoyed this next chapter, i wanted to make it a double post but i'm still in the process of writing the next one, and i didn't want to keep you waiting any longer!:) You will be getting the next installment very soon, and i have to say i got really excited writing it! Please keep reviewing and telling me what you think, i love getting your opinions:D**


	3. Ancestral Lands

**Authors Note: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR LOVELY REVIEWS! I would love if we could keep those coming in cause they are a true motivation and inspiration for the story! :) Hope you enjoy this next chapter and i severely apologise that it took so long, but here you go: **

Three Years Earlier: Bonnie and Damon held hands, clutching onto to one another and instinctively gluing their eyes shut as the brilliant, blindly white light passed over them, and then… it was over. The light passed, and they remained standing there, hands interlaced. Tentatively, Damon opened his eyes. "Was that it?" He said.

"I guess so." Bonnie replied. Admittedly something did feel different. The atmosphere seemed thinner and the general color scheme slightly darker than it had been. This didn't feel like the other side.

"Well at least it didn't hurt." He optimized "but where the hell are we?"

Bonnie let go of his hand, bravely wondering forward towards the forest, with Damon following closely behind.

Before too long they were back in what appeared to be the graveyard of Mystic Falls, the definitive fog of the other side floating around the surroundings, except there hundreds of people all gathered around in concentric circles chanting away, unaware of Bonnie and Damon's arrival. Clearly these people were witches and Damon thought he recognized Sheila Bennett among the crowd.

"Who are these people?"

Bonnie walked up to them, as if the congregation was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen in her life.

"They're my ancestors."

* * *

Present Day: "As per usual witch theories are extremely intricate and complicated but Liv and I will try to keep it simple." Luke addressed the groups, consisting of Jeremy, Caroline and Stefan, while his twin began drawing a diagram on Caroline's white board. At the center of the board in a green marker she had the word DEATH written in capitals and circled. "When a human dies they find peace, accepting their fate and fading away to a relaxing afterlife, kinda like an eternal retirement. Which is why it's impossible to bring back a human, because once they find peace no magic at all can find them to interfere with their rest."

"Wait, are you suggesting that we can bring Damon and Bonnie back?" Stefan asked.

"We're getting to that," Liv explained, continuing "when a supernatural creature dies a far more complicated process takes place. Initially all supernatural creatures will go to the other side, where unfortunately many stay or ever," on the board she written the word's peace, and other side, connecting both to the DEATH at the center, "The Lucky ones will eventually find peace which is pretty much exactly the same as it is for the humans," she drew an arrow connecting other side to peace.

"It feels weird to have gotten this far without being told to skip to the important part" Luke mused.

"No Damon to interrupt," Caroline pointed out, Stefan just glared at her with a 'not now' look. "Sorry, continue Liv."

"Thank you. The extremely unlucky ones would be pulled off into oblivion, where again no magic can find them." Liv attached another line to, other side, labeling it oblivion.

"As you already know Other Side imploded thanks to the Traveler community bringing back Markos and tearing holes into its very foundation. Essentially what happened it that Oblivion gobbled up the Other Side taking everybody over there with it. This is more then likely what happened to your friends." As Luke spoke, Liv crossed out Other Side, "The only supernatural community to whom this whole structure does not apply to, are witches. They need to stick around for their coven in case they want to practice ancestral magic and hence they have their own secret little enclave of the Other Side, commonly known as the Ancestral Lands."

"We figure that, despite the complete unlikeness of this scenario, that maybe due to Bonnie's witch ancestry your friends may have somehow ended up in the Ancestral Lands."

"I knew it," Jeremy exclaimed, "I knew they couldn't just be gone."

Caroline and Stefan stared at each other in shock, Bonnie and Damon could still be rescued? "How do we get them out of there?" Stefan asked.

"Wow, wow, wow, slow down," Liv commanded, "theres is absolutely no proof that they're even there. Until further notice, they are pronounced dead and gone as far as I'm concerned."

Caroline countered, "but if there is a chance they are over there we need to know why we can get them out of there."

"To get a person out of the Ancestral Lands is an extremely difficult and complicated process that we will not be discussing now. Until we have some kind of proof that Damon and Bonnie might be over there, there's no point in talking about it."

There was silence.

Jeremy stood up, "We'll get you proof," he declared before walking out of the room, everybody else staring out at him.

Caroline and Stefan were still in shock, they could feel something warm returning to their spirits after such a long era of coldness. They were beginning to feel hope again. "We should probably tell Elena." Caroline said.

"No," Stefan was adamant, "She's still getting over Damon, if we tell her this and it doesn't work…we'll just be making her go through that all over again."

Caroline nodded in agreement.

* * *

Mystic Falls: Alaric made it home late that night, having spent too long at the Mystic Grill draining down the Bourbon, enough for him and his former drinking buddy. Yet oddly enough the second he opened the door to his loft opened he felt oddly sober again. He suspected that in large part the sudden sobriety was due to the shock of finding Elena Gilbert, whom he hadn't seen for months, sitting in his favorite chair by the fire, the same chair that another friend of his use to commandeer, a half empty class of Bourbon in her hands.

"Hey Elena, what are you doing here?"

"You told me you would make sure he got back in time."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Damon,"

Alaric wasn't sure when he had last her say that name. It must have been years ago.

She continued. "When we met on the other side, you told me that you would get him back on time." He sat on the chair facing her, and he could tell how careful she was being to not meet his eyes. "What happened?"

"He saw Liz Forbes' body hesitated to long trying to get debris from the explosion off her." There was a moment of silence as Elena, with and eerie ghostliness, absorbed the information she had just been given. Eventually Ric gained the courage to ask the question that was on his mind. "Elena it's been three years, why has it taken you this long to ask me that?"

"You know everybody says that? 'it's been three years' like I'm supposed to get over it." She chugged more of the Bourbon down. It was an acquired taste, but Elena was beginning to appreciate the strength of the liquor. "I'm not supposed to be alive. I wasn't supposed to come back without him."

"Well I hate to agree with everybody." Alaric said, "But you know Damon wouldn't wanted you to die for him, and he wouldn't want to see you like this Elena. He would have wanted you to move on, to find a way of being happy."

Since Stefan's visit the day before, Elena felt like she had opened up some gate in her heart, she hadn't been able to hold the grief back since and it showed as she openly wept in front of her former teacher/guardian/ friend.

"We were happy Ric," she managed between tears.

"I know."

She wanted she tell him how she had been more than just happy. Being with Damon had her happier then she had been in years, since before her parents died. She settled for that one feeble sentence she could muster, repeating it again and again. Just so long as one person could understand that she and Damon had been utterly and devotedly in love, even if just for a minute.

"I can't live without him, I don't know how anymore." She confessed. She stared, as if her life depended on it, at the the blue ring with the engraved D on it, as she twirled it around her fingers.

"Your starting to remind me of him you know."

She chuckled darkly. "Is that supposed to be an insult?"

"No, just an observation."

She spent the rest of the night sleeping on Ric's couch, not wanting to go back to her lonely dorm room ever again. All Elena wanted in that moment, was to go back home, to the sanctuary of the Boarding House, but she was too afraid of the memories that hunted the deserted building.

**Authors Note:Well, what did you think? was it worth the wait? please give me your feedback in the reviews section. Oh and i know that some of you lovely readers have been wondering how Stefan is coping so well with the loss of his brother, and this will be addressed in the next chapter, so stay tuned. :) **


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